Abortion opponents are struggling this year to push proposals through the Kansas Legislature.

The agenda for lawmakers remains crowded with other big issues and even some anti-abortion legislators want to rest after a string of victories last year.

A bill giving health care providers greater legal protections if they refuse to be involved in abortions has cleared the House, but it faces skepticism. A more sweeping measure designed to keep Kansas from subsidizing abortions even indirectly has stalled in the House.

The contrast is sharp with last year. That’s when lawmakers approved a series of measures that put the state at the front of a trend in which abortion foes capitalized on the election of sympathetic Republican governors like Kansas’ Sam Brownback.

PAUL WISEMAN,AP Economics Writer

The improving economy is swinging the pendulum in President Barack Obama’s favor in the 14 states where the presidential election will likely be decided.

Recent polls show Obama gaining an edge over his likely Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, in several so-called swing states — those that are considered up for grabs.

What’s made the difference is that unemployment has dropped more sharply in several swing states than in the nation as a whole. A resurgence in manufacturing is helping the economy — and Obama’s chances — in the industrial states of Ohio and Michigan.

And Arizona, Nevada and Florida are getting some relief from an uptick in tourism.

“The biggest reason for the president’s improving prospects probably is the economy,” says Peter Brown of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Kansas lawmakers are taking a fresh look at policies and funding for public safety after four prison inmates escaped from a county jail this week.

The four were among 22 inmates from the Ellsworth Correctional Facility who were being housed in the Ottawa County jail in Minneapolis because of overcrowding in the state prison. All four were captured by Friday.

Rep. Pat Colloton says the state’s prison population has been growing as budget cuts have reduced programs to prevent inmates from committing more crimes. She says she expects the escape will prompt renewed debate over funding for prisons and what resources are needed.

Gov. Sam Brownback’s spokeswoman says he has proposed more money for prisons in the next state budget.

A Bloomfield, New Mexico man was injured after the motorhome he was driving crossed opposing traffic on I-70 (In Ellsworth County 2 miles east of K-232 junction) and ended up in the ditch, late Friday night.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, 59-year-old Gary L. Slocum was westbound on I-70 at 11:25PM, and crossed opposing traffic into the south ditch, coming to rest approximately 250 feet from I-70.

No other vehicles were involved in the accident.

Slocum was transported to Ellsworth County Medical Center with injuries.

Residents of Kansas counties hit hard by last weekend’s violent storms are getting some guidance and help on replacing lost documents and filing their income taxes.

Gov. Sam Brownback said Friday the state is waiving the fees to replace birth and marriage certificates, driver’s licenses, non-driver ID cards and the titles for vehicle or mobile home.

Brownback has declared a disaster emergency for 39 counties where property was damaged or destroyed by last Saturday’s tornadoes and storms. Residents needing to replace important documents will have to sign an affidavit of where they live.

The administration also says the Division of Taxation will provide replacements of prior year tax returns. The division is waiving interest and penalties in the affected areas on late filing of individual income taxes and automatic extensions until October.

Army officials say a Fort Riley officer has died while on deployment with the 1st Infantry Division in Afghanistan.

A release from Fort Riley on Friday says 31-year-old Capt. Michael Braden was pronounced dead at a medical facility on Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. Braden was found unresponsive in his living quarters Wednesday morning.

The cause of death is under investigation.

Braden, of Lock Haven, Pa., was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion. He was on his second deployment with the division, having served when it was in Iraq in 2010.

Braden graduated from Slippery Rock University and was commissioned in the Army in May 2003. He had been awarded the Bronze Star, Army Commendation Medal and the Army Achievement Medal.

UPDATE: A Salina priest pleaded not guilty to one count of misdemeanor sexual battery at his first court appearance, Friday.

On April 18th, 49-year-old Allen Scheer was arrested on a Saline County District Court warrant for one count of sexual battery. The police investigation revealed that Scheer had inappropriately touched an adult male, with the intent to arouse or satisfy sexual desires.

The alleged offense occurred at the victim’s residence in central Salina.

The Catholic Diocese issued a statement Thursday afternoon: ”Yesterday, Father Allen Scheer was charged with a misdemeanor for inappropriate sexual conduct with an adult in Salina. The Diocese will fully cooperate with the investigation conducted by local law enforcement, and Father Allen Scheer has been placed on administrative leave.

Father Randall Weber has been appointed as Parochial Administrator of Sacred Heart Cathedral.”

The trial has been set for August 15.

 

ORIGINAL:

A pastor at The Sacred Heart Cathedral in Salina was booked into the Saline County Jail late Wednesday afternoon on a charge of sexual battery.

49-year-old Allen Kent Scheer was booked into jail just before 5PM.

More information about the case will be available during the media briefing with Salina Police Officials, Thursday morning.

A Kansas sheriff says he doesn’t think four state prison inmates who escaped from his county’s jail had much time together for planning beforehand.

Ottawa County Sheriff Keith Coleman told Associated Press Radio on Thursday the four men spent less than a week together in a section of the jail before Wednesday morning’s escape.

They were in the county jail because the state prison at Ellsworth was overcrowded.

Coleman says they used homemade knives to overpower two guards, get into the jail’s control room and open doors.

Coleman says he and police quickly apprehended one escapee in Minneapolis, the Ottawa County town where the jail is located. Another turned himself in Wednesday at a Walmart in Nebraska.

Two others, including a convicted killer, remain at large.

Kansas prison officials have removed all inmates housed at a county jail after four escaped, including a convicted murderer who remains at large.

Department of Corrections spokesman Jeremy Barclay says the 18 inmates who were being held at the Ottawa County Jail because of state prison overcrowding have been returned to a state facility in Ellsworth.

Barclay says the temporary decision was made after four inmates escaped Wednesday morning from the jail in Minneapolis, a town about 120 miles west of Topeka.

Two of those men, including a convicted killer, are still missing Thursday.

Barclay says the move is temporary as the department investigates the escape and reassesses placing inmates in the jail.

Kansas allows some county jails to house prison inmates under state contracts to help alleviate prison overcrowding.